Living A Huge Lie
by lyndsied
Summary: Stephanie's been raising her twin nieces since her sister's death when they were 10.  Her sister had a lot of little secrets, one of which Stephanie knows but doesn't have the heart to explain to Emma and Olivia.  Paul's strangely involved too!
1. An Old Flame

Stephanie sat down at her desk, sipping on her cup of coffee. She had just started her month-long vacation from work and was thinking of ways for her and her two nieces to spend it. As she checked her email, she noticed a message from Facebook, telling her that she had received a new friend request from someone.

She quickly signed onto Facebook and saw the request, "oh my God, Paul," she said aloud, smiling, "I haven't seen him in years." She saw he was online so she decided to send him a message back. As they talked, all she could think about was how things used to be, he was her first kiss, her first love, the first person she'd done anything with. She couldn't help but grin with every word she typed. Her heart fluttered as he mentioned he'd moved back closer to her and his family. They'd lost contact after she'd broken up with him and he moved from California to Texas, where he'd gotten married to his then-girlfriend and attempted at starting his own family.

He now lived in an apartment an hour away from her, while his ex-wife got back on her feet with her parents. She felt weird wanting to ask him to visit her, but she wanted him to, although she would have to deal with her parents, who hated him for various reasons, one of which would ruin her niece's lives.

After chatting with him for an hour, she kept her dignity and told him she had to go because she was trying to make plans with her nieces. When he asked how her sister was, she almost burst into tears. She couldn't say anything, so she signed off with no reply. Her sister Molly and her husband Patrick died almost 10 years ago, when she was 19 years old. Their twin daughter's Olivia and Emma almost ended up in foster care until it was revealed that Molly had a makeshift will, and in it, she expressed that if anything were to have happened to them before the girls turned 18, she wanted Stephanie to be the one to care for them. She wiped a tear from her cheek thinking about her sister, when she heard one of the girls stomping down the stairs, "Stephanie?"

"I'm on the computer," she yelled out, waiting for one of them to run to her office, "I was just checking my email really fast, what are we doing today?"

"Christmas shopping?" It was Emma, "it's December first, we could start now and not have to be those last-minute shoppers, like we always are."

She laughed, "do you know what you're getting everyone? Or are you going to get some ideas?"

"I don't need any ideas, I know what I want to get people, I just need money, to get things," she smiled, "but I'm sure Olivia has no idea what she's getting people."

Stephanie found herself back on Facebook, seeing a new message from Paul, saying he missed her. She looked up at Emma and bit her lip, "would you mind if I invited a friend to come shopping with us?"

"Sure, who are you inviting?" Emma slyly peeked around the computer, "who are you talking to?"

"Just an old friend I haven't seen in a long time," she clicked out of the page before her niece saw it, "he moved to Texas and he just moved back here six months ago."

"So it's a guy, okay, what does he look like? Is he cute? How do you know him?"

"He was an old boyfriend of mine, like, my first boyfriend, he was always cute, and from the looks of it here, he still is."

"Paul Levesque huh?" Emma studied his profile picture, "he is pretty cute, this guy was your first boyfriend? How old were you?"

Stephanie nodded, her face bright red, "I was 16, and we broke up because your grandfather hated him, and still continues to hate him. Not only did he hate him just because he was my boyfriend, he was also 14 years older than me."

"Your first boyfriend was 14 years older than you? Are you serious? That means you were 16 and he was 30, you were almost half his age."

"I know, it was weird, but he was really sweet, and he did everything for me, but my dad made a big deal out of it and he decided it was easier that I just break up with him, so nothing happened. Like with your mom, she got pregnant at such a young age, he didn't want me to end up the same way."

"My mom was 20 though, that's not really that young. If you were to have gotten pregnant at 16, that's really young," she chewed on her fingernail, "so is he coming with us? Do you think Grandpa would still hate him?"

"I have no idea, I hope not, but you know how your Grandpa can be, he'll hold a grudge against anybody for anything," she smiled as Paul told her he would meet her and her nieces to go shopping, "he said he wants to come with us, I feel super happy right now."

"Finally we get to meet someone you like, besides Andrew, he doesn't count," Emma laughed, "has he talked to you lately? I remember you said he used to call and tell you he wanted you back."

"I told him to leave me alone and he hasn't called in awhile, but I'm telling Paul to meet us at the mall whenever he can, and he says he's leaving now, so he can meet us there in an hour." She turned her computer back off and got up, "let's just hope we don't run into any of my parent's friends, they know all about him."

"Don't jinx it," Emma followed to the kitchen, "so this guy's like forty-something now? He didn't look that old in the picture," she paused to think, "if you're 29, he's…43 now. Hella old. How did you meet him when you were 16?"

"Actually, he was your mom's boyfriend first, your parents dated for two years, then they had a disagreement and broke up for like, eight months or something like that. Your mother, being the stubborn one she was, acted like she was completely fine and went and started dating Paul. After a couple months, she realized she was pregnant with you guys, and she still loved your dad, so they got back together and got married."

Emma squinted her eyes, "wait, she was with Paul when she found out she was pregnant with us?"

Stephanie hesitated, "well yeah," she tried to think of something else to say, "don't worry, she was so far along we knew Patrick was your father," she reassured, "we all thought it was kinda weird, but don't worry," she sighed in relief, knowing Emma was convinced, she didn't need to have that conversation now, although it probably needed to happen soon, "is your sister ready yet?"

"No clue," Emma looked up at her aunt, puzzled, "so Paul was with my mom, and her and my dad got back together, and you started dating him?"

"According to him, he liked me first, but only dated your mom to get my attention, it was pretty bad, I know," she put her coffee cup in the sink and rinsed it out, "our family has been nothing but dysfunction."

"We're not that dysfunctional," Olivia came out with her purse, "what are you guys talking about?"

"Stephanie's ex-boyfriend is coming shopping with us today," Emma smiled, "his name is Paul, he's hella cute too. Maybe him and Stephanie will start dating again," she looked over and giggled.

"You mean we finally get to meet a boyfriend of yours?" Olivia sat down at the dining table, "who's Paul? When did you date him?"

"When I was 16, he was a lot older than me, and we broke up because your grandfather hated him. He found me on Facebook this morning and he lives here again so he wants to hang out with us."

"Right," Olivia laughed, "wait, is this the older guy who used to smoke pot? Cause if it is, I know of him, Grandma talked about him a couple times."

"Oh wait, I remember Grandma used to talk about him sometimes, is this the guy?"

"Yes," Stephanie bit her lip, "he got me to smoke pot with him a couple times, and my dad hated him for it, but its not like it was the only thing I did. Its not like I turned into a pothead or anything, Paul was the one who smoked all the time," she grabbed her purse and car keys off the dining table, "let's go, I have to run a couple errands before we go to the mall."


	2. We Meet Again

"Hi Stephanie," Paul pulled up a chair in the restaurant he was told to meet them at, "how are you?"

She blushed, knowing what Emma and Olivia were thinking, "I'm fine, how have you been. I can't believe I'm actually getting to see you again," she cleared her throat, "oh, I know you've met Olivia and Emma before, they probably don't remember you though."

"We've met you?" Emma asked, "I don't remember meeting you ever," she looked down at her menu, "we were only like six then."

"I remember you guys," he smiled, "how's your mom and dad?" He opened his own menu, waiting for an answer but got complete silence instead, "what?"

"They died, when the girls were 10, I've been taking care of them ever since," Stephanie noticed he felt bad for asking, "they were flying back from a vacation, and the plane crashed, I don't want to tell you the whole story here," she sighed, "what are you guys gonna get?"

The table was silent once again, so Paul spoke up again, "how are your parents? Does your dad still hate my guts?" He chuckled to himself, seeing Stephanie blush again, "I'll take that as a yes, I remember he used to threaten me so much, I'm pretty sure he would have killed me if he could have found a way."

"My grandpa hated you that much? Stephanie said he didn't like you but, he would have killed you?" Emma took a drink of her soda, "what did you do to make him hate you so much?"

"Dated both his daughters I guess, I don't really think I should get into details, but I think just dating Stephanie as young as she was pissed him off pretty bad."

"They're 19, don't feel like you have to censor yourself, trust me, they've heard worse from me, I just didn't say anything to them."

Paul nodded, staring down his menu again, "so are we Christmas shopping today or just shopping? Just wondering."

"I needed to go Christmas shopping. Stephanie, can you give us some money so Olivia and I can just go shopping by ourselves?"

"Sure, I'll give you money after we eat," put her menu down, "so do your parents still own the avocado ranch?"

He smiled, "they still own it, but my brother and his wife run it for them, I was in Texas still when they asked us who wanted to take over, I sure as hell didn't."

"Why not? I always thought you would be the one to run it, you always seemed like you wanted to."

He shook his head, "I'm not organized enough to do it by myself, my brother has his wife to help him. My ex-wife was less organized than me, she couldn't help anyone."

"Well you still seem bitter towards her, what do you mean she couldn't help anyone?"

He rolled his eyes, "I'm not bitter, I'm just saying that she only did things the benefited her. And working at the avocado ranch wouldn't have been something that benefited her, so therefore she probably wouldn't have done anything to help me."

"Have you talked to her lately? How about Cassie?" Cassie, his ex-wife's 15-year old daughter, and his former step-daughter, "how did she take it when you and Torrie divorced?"

"She was upset, but she understands. She texts me a lot, she tells me how she's been and what she's been up to. She told me its hell living with Torrie's parents, everyone's always arguing. I'm the only person she had as a dad, so when Torrie and I divorced, we explained to her that even though I wasn't her real dad, she could come visit me whenever she wanted."

"Who was her real dad anyway?" She glanced up into his eyes and couldn't help but to notice the way he was staring at her. It was the same stare she got from Emma when she was stuck in thought.

He shrugged, "I really have no idea, someone with black hair and blue eyes," his eyes lit up, "oh, I forgot to tell you what I got from my parents last month."

She looked away, a worried expression on her face, "what did you get from your parents?"

"The truck," he saw she looked worried, "what's wrong?"

She remembered the truck he was talking about. It was an old Chevy Silverado his parents owned for the ranch. He was always driving it, like it was his, "your parents still had that truck?"

He nodded, "yeah, they didn't use it much because it was old and they bought a new one, but they gave it to me, even though I have my own truck which uses less gas."

"How did you ever afford gas for that thing?"

"My parents paid for gas back then, now, unemployment pays for everything," he grinned, "I got laid off in Texas a year ago, which is why I decided to get the hell out of there and come back. But anyway, enough about me, what have you all been up to?"

She looked over to Emma and Olivia, "just taking care of these two, other than that, I haven't been up to anything. I took this month off work so we could hang out and go Christmas shopping whenever we wanted, not that I work that much anyway. My family and Patrick's family help me out a lot with them."

Emma and Olivia ate as fast as they could to get away from the awkwardness, "okay, we're done, can we go shopping now?"

Stephanie grabbed her purse and opened her wallet, "how much do you guys need? I need to save some of my cash to pay for lunch," she sorted through the cash she had in her wallet, "I thought I had more."

Paul took out his wallet and peered in it, "I'll get our lunch, don't worry about that," he took out a couple bills and put them on the table.

She handed the girls the cash she had in her wallet and watched as they walked away, "you don't have to pay for lunch, I invited you, I could've just put it on my debit card."

He smiled, "its fine, I don't have any one else to spend my money on," he pushed his plate towards the edge of the table, "I didn't know Molly and Patrick died, I feel bad for asking them about their parents."

"Well, I don't want to say they're over their parents, but they've gotten past it and they don't cry every time someone talks about them, like I do. Every time someone mentions Molly's name, or asks about my siblings, I have to excuse myself so I can go to a bathroom and cry," her eyes welled up, "I want to cry right now just thinking about her."

He bit his lip, watching as she frantically wiped the tears from her eyes, "I don't know how you hold yourself together like that, I couldn't."

"It wasn't anyone's fault, it was an accident, that's why I'm not that bothered by it that much, I must miss her, and I don't think its fair to the girls to have to be raised by their aunt. They have no father figure in their life anymore, they did, when I was married, but that fell through when I found out he'd been cheating on me for two years. Andrew and I were married for three years and he was really only with me for one."

"When were you married?" He jealously looked away, "I hated the fact that we quit talking after you broke up with me. It was my fault, I was mad and upset, but I should have tried to keep you in my life. I felt like such an idiot after letting you just leave like that."

"I got married to Andrew nine years ago, and wasted three years of my life with that scumbag. If I could go back in time and change it, I would," she shook her head, "I just wish I wouldn't have put Emma Olivia through all that drama, especially with the fact that I married Andrew a little over a year after Molly and Patrick died. I vowed not to date anyone until both of them were older and moved out or something."

"Have you really not dated since then?" He smiled at the waiter as he handed the money to him, "cause to me, that sounds like a pretty long time."

"Well no," she blushed, "I've been on a couple dates recently, only because of Emma, she wants me to be happy and not alone when they move out."

He laughed, "so you've been taking care of them for 10 years now? I noticed they don't call you Aunt Stephanie anymore."

"It doesn't even seem like that long. I used to get weird looks when they were younger, but now I guess we all look like sisters. I figured that calling me Stephanie would be easier, I just let them call me whatever they wanted, Aunt Stephanie makes me feel old."


	3. We Need A Babysitter?

Stephanie's phone rang in the middle of the night, she panicked when she saw it was her mom, "hello? Mom is everything okay?" She listened as her mom tried to explain something, but she couldn't understand what she was saying, "mom, are you crying?"

Linda explained something about her sister being in the hospital, and that she wasn't gonna make it very much longer, "do you want me to drive up there with you? I will if you want me to. I'll invite a friend over to watch the girls tomorrow."

Her mom agreed and hung up the phone. Stephanie jumped out of bed and started stuffing clothes in a bag. She ran around her room grabbing the necessary stuff she needed to bring. She put everything in her car, then went back inside to make a phone call.

"Hello? Its four AM, who is this?" Paul answered the phone, angry and tired sounding.

"Its me Stephanie," she sighed, "I have to drive to my parents house and drive with then to see my aunt, who my mom says is dying, I need your help. I need you to come watch the girls for me."

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, "but they're 19, they're adults, why do they need me to watch them?"

"Because they don't know how to cook, or drive, and I can't just leave them alone in the middle of the night. Please just come over here and stay with them for a week or so. You all can do your own thing, its not like you have to watch over them like little kids."

"You think I know how to cook?" He got up and turned his bedroom light on, "let me pack some clothes and I'll be over there. Where do you live anyway, that would help."

"I'll text you my address, I'll leave when you get here. Thank you so much Paul. I'll leave you money for whatever you need. I'll even clean my room so you can sleep in there," she smiled, "don't knock on the door when you get here, just text me first so I can go unlock the door."

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can," he hung up and threw the phone on his bed. He quickly packed as mush stuff as he could. He threw his bag into his truck and sped off.

"Thank you so much Paul, you don't know how thankful I am for you to do this," Stephanie reached up and kissed him on the cheek when he walked through the front door, "I'll call you when I get there."

"Okay…" he opened his mouth to ask her a question, but she walked off down the hallway, "Stephanie…?"

"Yeah, what?" She was in her room tidying up the bed, "here you go, my bed is all clean my room is clean, its all yours."

"Do the girls know you're leaving? Are you gonna tell them before you leave?" He fidgeted his hands, "on another note, just let them sleep and I'll just surprise them tomorrow."

She sighed, "I don't really want to tell them anything until I know what's going on, I left a note on the refrigerator door, the first thing they do when they wake up is eat, so they'll see it. Just tell them I had to go out of town for a week for some business."

"But you told me you took this month off. That's suspicious Stephanie, its two weeks before Christmas, they're gonna know you aren't working," he shrugged, "I'll think of something better. I don't think they like me that much, they don't talk to me, like at all. This is probably gonna make them flip out."

"Oh shut up, its fine," she hugged him, "once again, thank you, I have to go now. My mom's a wreck right now," she picked up her purse and almost ran out the front door.

Paul awkwardly looked around the living room, then went back to her bedroom and lied down. Her bed smelled like perfume and hairspray, two good smells to him. He tried to think about something other than her as he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Paul got up and walked out to the living room, expecting the girls to be in there. There weren't any dirty dishes in the sink, so he guessed that they weren't even awake yet. He opened the refrigerator door and grabbed the milk. When he closed the door, Emma was standing in front of him, "oh my fucking God you scared me!"

She smiled, "so where did Stephanie go? On the note she left, she just said she had to go out of town for about a week or so. What did she tell you?

He quickly tried to come up with something, "well, nothing really, she just called me at four in the morning and made me come over to watch you guys."

"So we have to have a babysitter? We're 19, why do we need you here?" She sat down across the table.

"I don't know, why do you need a babysitter?" He shoveled his cereal in his mouth, "do you know how to cook? How are you gonna get to school?"

"Olivia and I aren't in school right now, we're on winter break," she sighed, "but no, we don't know how to cook, do you?"

He nodded, "yeah, I do know how to cook. Why don't you two know how to drive yet? I got my license at 16, but I drove since I was probably 13. My parents taught me as soon as I became a teenager."

She shrugged, "Stephanie worries about us too much, she hasn't talked about us driving yet.. I don't even think she wants us to drive, ever."

"Why? How do you guys get to school then? Does she have to drive you?"

"No, we take the bus, or sometimes our friend Maria gets us, especially on rainy days when we don't want to walk to the bus stop," she started to pour her own bowl of cereal, "so how long are you gonna be watching us?"

"Stephanie said a week, but I'm not really that sure how long she'll be gone. It could be awhile I guess." He heard footsteps coming down the stairs, "Stephanie did say she was going to leave you guys a note somewhere on the refrigerator, and she said she would call you as soon as she could."

Olivia came into the kitchen, silently. She looked at Paul, then at her sister, "what are you doing here? Where's Stephanie?"

Emma went to the fridge and read the note, "Stephanie had to go to grandma and grandpa's for something important," she turned to Paul and thought, "she told you why she had to go there, just tell us, is someone sick?"

He looked around, wide-eyed, "she didn't tell me a thing, I have no idea what's going on," he shook his head, "I just know I'm supposed to be here to make sure you guys are able to eat and get places."

"We have eggs, potatoes and bacon, make us breakfast," Olivia sat at the table beside him, "I can't drink that kind of milk, it makes me sick," she pointed to the milk jug, "its whole milk."

Paul looked at the jug and grumbled, "I kinda expected it to be like, fat free, or maybe like one percent, nobody I know drinks whole milk," he cleared his throat, "why can't you drink whole milk?"

"Because my stomach hurts really bad after I drink it, why are you holding your stomach? Are you lactose intolerant too?"

"Yeah, my stomach hurts after for a little while, its inconvenient, but I like milk, so I don't really care," he thought for a second, "is anyone in your family lactose intolerant? Cause it can be genetic, I had to have gotten it from my dad."

"Not that I know of, Stephanie says no one in her family is lactose intolerant, when I was little, I used to always complain my stomach hurt after eating or drinking something with milk, and my grandma said I probably was lactose intolerant, and my grandpa said it was all in my head, he never believed me."

"That's because your grandpa is a…" he paused, "he's the type of person who, if it never happened to him, it doesn't exist."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emma smiled at him, "what were you going to say about our grandpa before you paused?"

"I was going to call him an asshole, but that's a little much, don't you think? What I meant was, for example, if he's not lactose intolerant, he doesn't believe in it and doesn't believe you that you have it."

"You really don't like him do you?"

He sighed, "I'm not gonna say I don't like him, but he hated me, which made it hard to get to know him, and how can I like someone I don't know?" He got up and went back in the fridge to get the bacon.


	4. Round Em' Up

Paul woke up to the sound of his cell phone ringing, he looked over to see it was a text from Stephanie, asking him to call her. He sat up in her bed and waited as the phone rang once, "hi Stephanie."

"Hi," she smiled, "do you guys have any plans today?"

"I don't think so, why? Do you plan on coming back today?"

She bit her lip and sighed, "I don't think so, I'm helping my mom and aunt Susan plan the funeral, my aunt Mary passed away last night, so if I sound upset, that's why."

"Are you okay? You can talk to me about it if you aren't. How's your mom doing?"

"She's been really upset, I'm kind of okay," she sniffled, "the reason I ask if you had plans today, was because the neighbor called me and asked if the girls could babysit. Our neighbor Shawn is divorced, and he has three kids, but he works two jobs and his ex is a little bit inconsiderate. Around the holidays, I always take the girls, their friend Maria, and Shawn's kids out to look at Christmas lights, do you think you could do that? The minivan is in the garage and the keys are somewhere on my dresser."

"You want me to drive your minivan?" He raised his eyebrows, "you already asked the girls to babysit didn't you?"

"Well yeah, I sent them texts, but of course I have to ask you too. Its not that I want you to drive my minivan, you need to drive it if you're gonna haul a bunch of people around. I saw that your truck doesn't have backseats."

"Alright, I'll take everyone out to look at lights tonight, in your minivan," he sighed, "how old are these kids?"

"Charlotte is fifteen, Blaine is seven, and Derek is three. They're really good kids, and then Maria is probably gonna come over. You know who you should invite, you should try and see if Cassie can spend some time with you."

"How many people does this van hold again? Does it hold seven or eight people?"

I think the book says it holds eight. But I've fit more than that before. Paul you really should get Cassie, maybe she'll like to hang out with Emma and Olivia, and when I come back, they can all have a sleepover or something."

"I'll call her then," he got up and headed for the bathroom, "do you know when you're coming back?"

"Not yet, Paul, I really have to thank you so much for being there for me, I owe you so much," she held her hand over her mouth to keep her sniffles in, "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay," he waited in silence, "oh, I wanted to tell you that I keep getting reamed by Emma and Olivia, they claim to know that you tell me what's going on and they're kinda upset you aren't telling them anything."

She sighed, "I'm sure they are, I just need to think of a way to tell them over the phone without them flipping out with you there. I kinda wanted to wait until I got back, so I could tell them in person."

"Well then just text them to leave me alone with it, because I almost spilled it last night. They wouldn't stop asking me."

"Fine, I'll text them. I have to go, I'll call you again tonight," she paused for him to talk, "bye Paul," as soon as he said goodbye, she hung the phone up.

After he showered and got dressed, he came out of Stephanie's bedroom and looked around, noticing it was silent. He quietly walked down the hallway and into the kitchen, "holy shit," he put his hand to his chest, "why are you guys sitting here all in silence like that? Its creepy as fuck," he took a deep breath, "oh good, you're already dressed."

"We always sit here and eat breakfast quietly, because usually we wake up way before Stephanie," Olivia tried not to laugh, "why is it good that we're dressed?"

"Cause we're going to my ex-wife's house, to pick up my step-daughter," he looked over at the coffee pot and sighed, "and we're stopping by Starbucks on the way there."

"Can we get something too?" Emma went running upstairs for her purse, followed by her sister, "I saw Paul's truck in the driveway and it doesn't have backseats," she laughed as they started coming back down, "how does that work?"

"I know, that's why we're taking your aunt's minivan," Paul came around to the bottom of the stairs, "hurry up, we have to leave, I told my ex-wife we would be there in forty-five minutes."

"How far away does she live?" The three of them went out to the garage to the black minivan, "I call front seat!" Emma ran around to the passenger's side.

"She lives about thirty-five to forty minutes away. Stephanie called me this morning and told me that you guys are babysitting Shawn's kids, and then she said your friend Maria's coming over, and since you're all around the same ages, she suggested that I have my step-daughter come over to hang out with you guys."

"How old is she again? She's like 15 or something?"

"Yeah, she's 15, which is the same age as Shawn's daughter, right?" He drove the van out of the driveway and stopped, waiting for the garage door to close behind them, "Stephanie told me you were babysitting tonight, and I'm driving you all around to look at Christmas lights, sounds like fun," he said, sarcastically.

Emma leaned over, "do you not like Christmas or something? You seem pretty bitter about it."

"I like Christmas I guess, its just not as fun when you don't have anyone to spend it with," he bit his tongue, knowing he just started a whole game of 20 questions.

"What about your family? Don't you have parents to spend Christmas with? I thought you had a brother."

"I do have a brother. And yes, I do have parents to spend it with, but that's not what I mean. I leave my house, go eat Christmas dinner with my parents and family, and then go back home, alone."

"Then why didn't you try to keep your marriage to your ex-wife?"

He sighed, "I don't know, I don't think it was my fault, but that's what everyone says right?" He awkwardly reached for the power button on the radio, "what about your aunt? Wasn't she married?"

"Why are you so interested in our aunt? I'm not trying to be all in your business or anything, but I've noticed that every time we talk, we always end up talking about her. You always end up talking about her."

He glanced over at her, "alright, fine, we won't talk about her anymore, jeez," he turned the radio up, but when he pulled his hand away, Emma turned it back down, "what are you doing?"

"I thought we were still talking," she turned the radio back off and stared at him, "our aunt was married, yeah, and then he cheated on her. I'm pretty sure you already knew that though."

"Why are you being so mean to me right now? What did I ever do to you?" He watched as she turned away from him in the seat, "yeah, I did already know all that, but I was just trying to make some sort of conversation with you guys."

"Are you and Stephanie dating again?" She asked, "I'm just still trying to figure out why she had you come over and stay with us. We barely know you."

He shook his head, "no, we aren't dating, I honestly couldn't tell you why she wanted me to come over and stay with you guys. It was just as much a surprise to me as it was to you," he pulled the van into the Starbucks drive-thru and rolled the window down, "what do you guys want?"

"Vanilla frappe's." Olivia yelled out from the backseat, "that's what I want."

They waited in an awkward silence as the line of cars slowly moved forward, he continued to check the clock, and once he saw ten minutes pass, he knew he was gonna be late and Torrie wouldn't let him forget it.


	5. A Look Into Our Future

The three of them stood on the porch, waiting for someone to open the door, "late, just like always," Torrie glanced over at Emma and Olivia, "who are they?"

"This is Emma and Olivia. Remember Molly and Stephanie, the two sisters I dated? Well, they're Molly's kids," he shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed impatiently.

Torrie smiled, "I thought you were gonna tell me they're your daughters that you never told me about. They almost look like you," she opened the door wider, "anyway, come in, Cassie's bringing her stuff downstairs."

"What?" Paul stared at the girls, "what are you talking about? What do you mean they almost look like me?"

Emma looked Paul up and down, studying his blonde, slightly curly hair that was extremely similar to hers and Olivia's. She saw him biting the inside corner of his lip, just like she did when she was nervous about something. She turned towards Olivia and stared at her, seeing not only their mother, but now she seemed to see Paul too.

"Emma? What's wrong with you?" Olivia whispered, "why are you staring at me like that? Are you okay?"

Emma only nodded, feeling overwhelmed, "I'm fine, does it look like something's wrong?"

"A little," Olivia leaned closer, "are you sure you're okay? Not trying to sound tacky, but you look like you saw a ghost or something. You went really pale all of a sudden."

"I'll tell you later," Emma couldn't stop staring at Paul, she was ecstatic, upset, and angry all at the same time, no wonder she looked pale.

She slowly followed everyone back out to the van, her eyes locked on Paul's every move. Instead of taking the front again, she sat in the third row, her cell phone in hand. She contemplated texting her aunt, and after a few minutes, she sent a message, 'I want to see my birth certificate.'

A few hours later, when Maria came over, Emma checked her phone, seeing a message from Stephanie, asking if they were having a good time. She threw her phone on her bed and put her head in her hands, trying to keep herself from getting emotional, "Emma, what's going on with you?" Olivia passed by her bedroom with Maria, "today you seem really upset."

"Did you hear what Torrie said when we walked in her house earlier? She said that we looked like Paul. Why would we look like Paul?"

Olivia rolled her eyes, "we all have blonde hair, of course we could look alike. I have no idea where you're trying to get at here."

"When Stephanie started talking to him again, she told me that he dated mom first. Mom and dad dated for like, two years, then they broke up for eight months, and that was when mom started dating Paul. But then she found out she was pregnant with us, so her and dad got back together."

"That doesn't make sense," Maria chipped in, "if they were separated for eight months, how was she pregnant from your dad? I don't think Paul and your mom would have stayed together if she was pregnant."

Olivia's eyes widened, "okay, I know what you guys are thinking, and I don't think its true. Our dad is Patrick, not Paul. If Patrick wasn't our dad, I'm sure mom would have told us when we were younger, or Stephanie would have told us."

"Stephanie's one of those people that if something's too emotional or too hard to get out, she won't say anything," Emma snarled, "I texted her and said I wanted to see my birth certificate and she won't even text me back."

"I don't even want to talk about this anymore," Olivia turned and paced back to her room.

Maria sat on Emma's bed, "so what's making you think he's your father all of a sudden? I mean, I understand where Olivia is coming from, this is a pretty major assumption."

"Even you don't think it makes sense. I thought a lot about this, okay? So my parents broke up for eight months. How did she not find out she was pregnant for eight months? If my dad fathered us, she would have known she was pregnant in like, two months, which means she spent six more months with Paul, pregnant."

"Why has nobody else thought of this?" Maria bit her lip, "are you okay? Maybe you're thinking a little too hard about this. I'm just gonna make a suggestion, how about you don't say anything to Paul about this, before your talk to your aunt. Because it is possible that he has no idea about any of this. And if you go and mention stuff to him, it'll probably stress him out, so I'm just saying it wouldn't be a good idea."

Emma nodded, "no, I know, I don't want to ask him anyway. If he does know anything, Stephanie and the rest of my family are probably making him keep his mouth shut about it," she sighed, "I don't know what I'm gonna do. I wish I never would have started thinking about this. I can't even explain how I'm gonna feel if all this turns out to be true. Forget how I'm gonna feel, what about Olivia? I guess I could get over it after some time, but I don't think she would." Tears started streaming down her cheeks, "I feel like I need to know though. I'm not gonna stop thinking about it until I know."

"Hey," Paul knocked on the wall beside the open door, "are you crying? Are you okay?" He nervously looked around, "I just came up here to tell you that Shawn's here, with all his kids, and he wanted to talk to you guys and me about something."

Maria nodded, watching Paul doing his nervous 'lip bite' again, just as Emma always did, "we'll be downstairs in a minute," she smiled as he walked away, "you know what? You act just like him sometimes. That's crazy."

Emma silently wiped her face with her sleeve, "Stephanie hides everything, she still hasn't even told us where she is right now. Or why she had to leave us with Paul. She doesn't tell us anything sometimes."

"Well text her or call her and just ask her. See what she says to you, if she ignores you, then you'll know something's up I guess."

"She'll probably ignore me just to make me think something's up," she sighed, "now that I suspect something about him, I'm not gonna be able to look at Paul the same again," they walked out of the bedroom and started downstairs, "hi Charlotte, come up here and put your stuff in my room."

"Hi Emma," Shawn waved at her when she came in to the living room. He was sitting on the couch with Blaine next to him and Derek in his lap, "I told Stephanie that I needed you and your sister to babysit for me, but my manager called and said I had today off. So I thought I would come over and see if I could maybe join you guys to look at lights tonight."

"I said it was okay with me," Paul chipped in, "we're gonna have that minivan all packed up."

"Cool," Emma smiled and turned to Maria, "let's go back upstairs and see what Olivia and Cassie are up to." She quickly ran back up the stairs, just trying to keep herself from saying anything to Paul.


	6. Jingle Bell Rockin Minivan

Paul's hands were tightly wrapped around the steering wheel. The two front windows were rolled all the way down to comfort the seven kids stuffed into the back. At first, it seemed like a good idea to go drive around and look at Christmas lights, but now, he was sort of regretting it. He grunted as Shawn punched him in the arm, belting out his rendition of 'Jingle Bell Rock' along with the radio.

This has to be what hell is like, he thought to himself while driving slowly down the street. He was freezing, even with the scarf, beanie and heavy jacket, "yo, you okay?" Shawn must have noticed the angry glare on his face, "do you not really like Christmas?"

"No, I hate Christmas," Paul snapped back, "I hate Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years."

"Oh," Shawn nodded, "you mind if I ask why?" He whispered over the screaming kids, "you're like Stephanie's boyfriend aren't you? Christmas is Stephanie's favorite holiday, she goes all out for it."

Paul cautiously smiled, "oh, Stephanie and I aren't dating, we used to, a long time ago, but we're just friends now."

"She seemed pretty adoring of you when I talked to her on the phone, how long ago did you guys date?"

"I dated Emma and Olivia's mom before they were born, and then I started dating Stephanie a couple years after their mother married their father."

Emma leaned forward, listening to as much as she could hear, waiting to see if Paul knew anything. She jumped when Olivia slapped her in the arm, "what?"

"Stop it Emma," she bit her lip, "I don't want to know anything, I was fine with the way everything was."

"I was, but now I've been thinking, I need to know more. Stephanie can't keep this from us forever, its not fair, what if he's really our father, we should get to know."

"I don't want him to be our father, we barely know him, he's just some guy Stephanie dated when she was younger, now he's back because he's probably a dog who didn't realize what he had until it was too late."

"Grandpa made them break-up because he didn't like Paul. That's what Stephanie told us the day he came Christmas shopping with us," she glanced up at him again, "I don't mind him that much, he's like one of those older guys who are still pretty cool. We saw what music he listens to, he wears jeans and band T-shirts all the time, he rocks a ponytail still. He seems pretty cool to me."

Olivia sat back in her seat, glaring at her sister, "I don't care, I still don't think what you think."

Emma rolled her eyes, then sat up in her seat and began to listen in on Paul's conversation. She couldn't understand why she really did want him to be her father. She had so many questions for both Paul and her aunt Stephanie, like if they even knew anything about the whole situation.

Shawn turned around in the front seat, smiling seeing all the kids' bright faces in the glow of multicolored Christmas lights, "Emma, are you okay?" He squinted his eyes, spotting her in the back seat, lost in deep thought. In a split second, he looked into her eyes and couldn't help but to gasp and quickly turn back around.

"What?" Paul noticed Shawn's odd reaction, "what's wrong with you?"

Shawn glanced at him, waiting for their eyes to meet, "what do you mean what's wrong with me?"

"You freaked out right now," Paul gave him a puzzled look, "something happened, what's wrong?"

"I just thought about something, it didn't have anything to do with anyone here, sorry," he waited for Paul to look at him again, and once he did, he built up the whole story in his head, Emma and Olivia have to be Paul's daughters.

Once they got back home, Shawn unbuckled a sleeping Derek from the car, he picked him up, then grabbed Blaine's hand, Charlotte stood close to him, looking expectantly at Olivia.

"Shawn, do you think it would be okay if Charlotte stayed at our house tonight? Us girls want to have a sleepover."

Paul stared at her, wide-eyed, "don't I get any say in this? No one asked me."

"Its just one more person, you already have four girls here, what's one more?" Olivia sneered, "is it okay with you?"

He was taken aback by her attitude, "I guess so," he watched the five girls walk towards Shawn's house, "well, I'll make sure they go to bed at a somewhat reasonable time."

Shawn nodded, "thanks for driving us around town, I'll talk to you tomorrow, I have to get these guys to bed," he turned and disappeared behind his truck.

"How'd it go?" Stephanie asked, "was it fun or was it horrible?" She laughed, her voice making Paul smile, "Shawn's nice huh?"

"Yeah, he's pretty cool, it wasn't that bad I guess," he sat down at the kitchen table, "all of the girls decided that they were having a sleepover tonight. Five girls, in one house."

"I told Emma and Olivia to wait until I got back," she sighed, "are you gonna be okay? You could have said no to them."

"They didn't ask me, they asked Shawn in front of me, that was it. Olivia snapped at me a little bit, has she told you anything about not liking me?"

"They're upset with the fact that I had you come over to stay with them, I wanted you guys to get to know each other."

He nodded, "and why is that? What are you planning?"

After a long pause, she giggled, "I'm not planning anything. I just think it would be good that they get to know you, just in case."

"Just in case of what?" He lowered his voice, "Stephanie?"

The way her name came rolling off his tongue made her melt. She reminisced back to when she was younger, sixteen years old, the night she gave him everything in the backseat of his parents' truck, "I think we can have a little talk once I get back home."

"What do we need to talk about?" He flirted to make her talk more, "why can't we talk now?" He dropped the phone facedown on the kitchen table as the five girls walked in, led by Emma.

"What are you doing in here?" Emma watched him fumble around on the table for the phone, "who are you talking to?" She opened the refrigerator door, still staring at him.

He held the phone back up to his ear, "Stephanie, I'll talk to you tomorrow or something," he waited for her to say goodbye, "bye," he hung up, keeping his face from turning red.

Olivia looked him over, from head to toe, then swiftly left, a pouty look on her face, she ran upstairs and threw her purse on her bed, only to lay on top of it and curl up into a ball to cry.


	7. Subliminal Messages

Paul and Emma stared at each other awkwardly. Maria, Cassie, and Charlotte exchanged uncomfortable glances, trying to decide whether they should stay in the kitchen, or make an escape.

"What did she say to you?" Emma crossed her arms, "can you tell us why she's not here yet? I still think its really sketchy."

"I wish I could tell you why she's not here. But she doesn't want me to."

"So you do know why she left?"

He squinted his eyes, "yeah, I do, but like I said, I'm not allowed to tell you anything. She wants to deal with you guys herself."

"How about you just fucking tell me, and Olivia can find out later," she leaned over him, putting her palm down on the table, making an attempt at intimidating him, "I'll even pretend to act surprised when she comes home and tells us."

He hung his head and let out a small chuckle, "how about you can just chill the fuck out and wait for your aunt to come home, then you can find out what's going on," he stood up and pushed his chair in, "that intimidation thing you tried to do there, nice try."

She tried to think of something sarcastic to say back, but she was drawing blanks. After a few seconds clenched her fists and stomped off to her room, her face a shade of red no one had ever seen before. She couldn't get over the fact that he had embarrassed her right in front of her friends.

"I'm sorry you had to witness all that," he sighed, "how many pizzas would it take to feed all of us?"

"Like six," Maria laughed, "the majority here is teenagers."

"There's six people in the house, do we really need six pizzas?" He looked at her, thinking she was joking, but from the serious expression on her face, he knew she wasn't, "alright, six pizzas it is. What kind does everyone want?"

After Maria, Charlotte and Cassie gave them their orders, they all looked at each other awkwardly again, "who's gonna go ask Emma and Olivia?" Maria placed her index finger on her nose, "not me."

Cassie and Charlotte simultaneously did the same with their fingers to their nose, leaving Paul confused, "what does that mean?"

Charlotte giggled, "no nose goes, you're the last to put their finger on their nose, therefore, you lose, and you have to go talk to Emma and Olivia."

He rolled his eyes, "fine," he huffed, "I'll do it," he turned and ran up the stairs, going for the easiest first. He knocked on Olivia's door, hoping she could hear him over the 'Friends' theme song that seemed to be quite loud. She opened the door and pouted, "hi Olivia."

"Hi Paul," she looked down at her feet, "what do you want?"

"If you could have your own pizza with however many toppings you want, what kind would you get?" He then pulled out a single sticky note and a pen, waiting for her answer.

That wasn't anything she had expected him to say, instead of feeling uneasy, she smiled, which then turned into a full-blown laughing fit. After a few seconds, she was still grinning, but blankly staring at him, "I don't even know. I've never been asked that before, Emma and Stephanie always fight over what they want so I just keep to myself and eat what they get."

"Well its all on you now, you can have anything you want. What kind of pizza have you always wanted to try?" He was relieved to see that at least one of the twins wasn't angry.

"This is so much pressure," she thought, "okay, pepperoni and sausage. But it has to be Italian sausage, the big round pieces."

"Pepperoni and Italian sausage, got it," he wrote it on the little paper in his hand, "now to your sister, who's mad at me for returning her ugly attitude." He smiled at her nervously and went to the next bedroom, exhaling loudly, then knocking.

Emma stood up, hoping it was one of the girls, or even her sister. She turned the handle, sighed, and pulled the door towards her, grunting irately seeing it was Paul, "what do you want?"

"Does the attitude ever go away?" He let his arms drop to his sides, "excuse me, but as far as I know, I didn't do anything to deserve you being like this. I'm just following your aunt's orders, if you have a problem, take it up with her, I'm just trying to be nice, okay?"

"I'm sorry," she nodded, "you're right, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just mad at my aunt and I'm taking it out on you because you're the only one here. Its just that she's ignored almost all of the texts I've sent her."

"I just came up here to ask what kind of pizza you wanted. You get one pizza all to yourself," he held up the paper to write her order down."

"Bacon. I want a pizza covered in bacon. Like, double-bacon."

He pushed the pen into the paper, about to write down what she had asked for. He glanced up at the top of the paper, his own order, double-bacon, "apparently great minds think alike."

She cocked her eyebrow, "what does that mean?"

"That's what I'm getting too, double-bacon," he wrote a two at the top of the paper and walked towards the stairs, "I'm gonna go pick them up, I hope that the five of you can handle yourselves for the twenty minutes I will be gone."

"I think we can do that," she smiled, "just make sure you don't take too long, we might start to get a little crazy."

He laughed as he started down the stairs, "okay, I'll be sure not to take too long."


End file.
